Culture Shocks
Case study (ch 9)
Kelly’s assignment in japan Kelly is an American woman that has been given an assignment and been sticking to it, trying to fix things out. at the same time ,she is risking her life, her children’s life and her husband’s work and life aswell ,she may lose her own job or atleast her promised promotion if she doesn’t succeed in the assignment .
1)explain the clashes in cluture, customs, and expectations that occurred in this situation :
First of all ,after arriving to the city ,exhausted and tired ,they were shocked about how small and tiny the apartment was which is a lot different from the American typical life style. americans normally have big apartments and specially if they have kids, they have garden which entertains kids and let them have their own area.this was not the only problem ,they also have been bringing many stuff ,and moved way too much of their personal belongings .it was too much for the size of the apartment and it made the whole family and ofcourse Kelly a bit disappointed.
The other problem comes when she started to greet them,2 germans,2 americans and the rest were Japanese .the different ways of greeting, the awkwardness afterwards and the bad silences was also annoying for her.
The next problem was that Japanese were shy or embarrassed at times, even though they could speak English ,they seemed very quiet and hesitant.
The next problem was that they thought “Kelly “ was a man and the fact that she is NOT made them laugh !
The other problem came with the presentations .kelly asked them to prepare a presentation and hand it out the day after .the presentation was meant to be about their ideas for the new account .the Americans and the germans said that they would do it on time and have it ready while the Japanese seemed reluctant to commit themselves. the next day at the office ,the germans and the Americans handed in the presentations but when it came to the Japanese, they claimed that haven’t had a chance to
Kelly’s assignment in japan Kelly is an American woman that has been given an assignment and been sticking to it, trying to fix things out. at the same time ,she is risking her life, her children’s life and her husband’s work and life aswell ,she may lose her own job or atleast her promised promotion if she doesn’t succeed in the assignment .
1)explain the clashes in cluture, customs, and expectations that occurred in this situation :
First of all ,after arriving to the city ,exhausted and tired ,they were shocked about how small and tiny the apartment was which is a lot different from the American typical life style. americans normally have big apartments and specially if they have kids, they have garden which entertains kids and let them have their own area.this was not the only problem ,they also have been bringing many stuff ,and moved way too much of their personal belongings .it was too much for the size of the apartment and it made the whole family and ofcourse Kelly a bit disappointed.
The other problem comes when she started to greet them,2 germans,2 americans and the rest were Japanese .the different ways of greeting, the awkwardness afterwards and the bad silences was also annoying for her.
The next problem was that Japanese were shy or embarrassed at times, even though they could speak English ,they seemed very quiet and hesitant.
The next problem was that they thought “Kelly “ was a man and the fact that she is NOT made them laugh !
The other problem came with the presentations .kelly asked them to prepare a presentation and hand it out the day after .the presentation was meant to be about their ideas for the new account .the Americans and the germans said that they would do it on time and have it ready while the Japanese seemed reluctant to commit themselves. the next day at the office ,the germans and the Americans handed in the presentations but when it came to the Japanese, they claimed that haven’t had a chance to